So, you're due to play in the FA Cup Final at The Oval when you're wrongly accused of murder and arrested whilst your girlfriend is abducted by Belgian anarchists in a hot air baloon.What happens next?If you're Robert King Stanley of The Rovers you escape and score the winning goal in the Final. I presume he also rescued his girlfriend.Alas this was all a fiction.The Football King was popular in provoincial theatres for a number of years in the late 1890s.

There have been 2 teams that have gone by the name of English Wanderers. Here we will look at the first, an amateur touring side that made annual visits to the Netherlands at Easter time from 1896-99.The team was established by Charles Craven, and received the approval of the Football Association. In keeping with Craven's background, The English Wanderers featured players from Kent and the North of England. On the first tour, for example the players were drawn from Sheffield FC, Mid-Kent, Tonbridge, Clapham Rovers, Old Carthusians, Herne Bay and Cambridge University. Among the tourists was Pinky Burnup, who had played for England against Scotland earlier that month.

C.J 'Pinky' Burnup

Charles Craven was responsible for the foundation of Darlington FC in 1883. By 1888 he was the Durham representative on the FA Council and in 1889 he oversaw the formation of the Northern League.In 1890 he became founder secretary of Leeds football and cricket clubs, based at Headingley.Mr Craven later moved to Kent and then again to the Gold Coast (Ghana).A former goalkeeper, in 1886 Mr Craven had written the following observations on that role:A good goalkeeper should not be less than 5ft 6in in height (the same in girth if he likes), active, cool, and have a good and quick eye. He should be a safe kick. In clearing the ball he should strike up in the air, so that the ball does not meet an opponent and rebound, He sometimes has eight yards to cover in next to no time, and as it is quicker to fall than to run, he should practice throwing himself down. When this art is acquired (and it cannot be done without practice) he will find it fairly useful.

There's an incomplete record of the tours to the Netherlands on RSSSF, so I've scoured some on-line Dutch newspaper archives and come up with the following details:

The Baltische Fußball Meisterschaft, initiated in 1908, was the newest of the 8 regional championships that fed the German National Championships. It featured teams from Pomerania, East and West Prussia* .

1907-08

VfB Konigsberg

Ostpreussen

1908-09

VfB Konigsberg

1909-10

Prussia Samland Konigsberg

1910-11

SC Lituania Tilsit

Tilsit/Memel

1911-12

BuEV Danzig

Danzig

1912-13

Prussia Samland Konigsberg

Konigsberg

1913-14

Prussia Samland Konigsberg

Ostpreussen

1919-20

Titania Stettin

Pommern

1920-21

VfB Konigsberg

Ostpreussen

1921-22

Titania Stettin

Pommern

1922-23

VfB Konigsberg

Ostpreussen

1923-24

VfB Konigsberg

1924-25

VfB Konigsberg

1925-26

VfB Konigsberg

1926-27

Titania Stettin

Pommern

1927-28

VfB Konigsberg

Ostpreussen

1928-29

VfB Konigsberg

1929-30

VfB Konigsberg

1930-31

Prussia Samland Konigsberg

VfB Konigsberg

1931-32

Hindenburg Allenstein

Viktoria Stolp

Grenzmark

1932-33

Prussia Samland Konigsberg

Ostpreussen

Hindenburg Allenstein

1933-34

Preussen Danzig

Viktoria Stolp

Pommern Ost

1934-35

York Insterburg

Ostpreussen

SC Stettin

Pommern West

1935-36

Hindenburg Allenstein

Ostpreussen

Viktoria Stolp

Pommern Ost

1936-37

Hindenburg Allenstein

Ostpreussen

Viktoria Stolp

Pommern

VfB Konigsberg reached the semi finals of the National Championship in 1923.

Of course, the cities that were represented in this competition are no longer in Germany. Their names are gone from the map.The succesful clubs:

Jimmy McGrory was Celtic's leading scorer for 12 seasons. McGrory scored 56 hat-tricks in the Scottish League and Scottish Cup.He scored a total of 550 goals in 547 appearances in all competitions for Celtic and Clydebank*.In his career he only took 3 penalties, and failed to score with 2 of them!It's remarkable that McGrory was only capped 7 times by Scotland.

The Guernsey FA was formed in 1893, and a military league was established on the island in the same year. Northerners AC was founded in November 1892. In 1893 the newly formed Guernsey Rangers played Association Football against various military teams, but the inter island contests were confined to Rugby.In February 1894 a league was formed in which Rangers joined with military sides. The competition was named the Priaulx Cup and was won by the Band Company, 2nd Battalion Royal Fusilliers.Northerners were the first non military winners in 1899-00.In the 1890s The Channel Islands became a popular venue for English club tours- Upton Park and Swindon Town both visited in 1897. The Jersey FA was formed in 1905 and The Jersey Football League's inaugural season was 1904-05.Jersey Wanderers won the league in 1906 and 1913, otherwise military teams dominated up until 1914.Football in Alderney is a more modest affair yet. The win over Guernsey in 1920 is 1 of only 2 games Alderney have ever won.The inter island tournament was introduced in 1905, sponsored by the Muratti tobacco company.

Writing about football pre 1937 I didn't expect to find myself dealing with penalty shootouts. However, an Easter Tournament organized by ADO Den Haag in 1935 was indeed decided by a duel from 11 metres. This was ADO's first such tournament and the 4 teams featured were:Alles Door Oefening Den Haag- founded in 1905, in season 1934-35 ADO finished 4th in West 1 (Eerste Klasse).

Voorwaarts Utile Dulci CombinatieDen Haag- founded 1909, were also an Eerste Klasse club finishing 7th in West 1. In 1927 they had won the NVB Beker.

Royal Daring Club Molenbeek (Belgium)- Daring Club de Bruxelles (matriculation n°2) was founded in 1895. In 1936 and 37 they were Belgian Division d'Honneur champions and won the Belgian Cup in 1935.Excelsior Athlétic Club de Roubaix(France) came into being in 1928 (a merger of Excelsior Club de Tourcoing and F C de Roubaix). Excelsior turned professional in 1932 and won the Coupe de France in 1933.

The tournament was played over 2 days at Zuiderpark. The visiting teams were too strong for the 2 Den Haag clubs (Netherlands football was resolutely amateur at this time).

When the final ended in a 2-2 draw each team had three penalty kicks. Daring scored all three of theirs whilst Excelsior missed with one.

Albert Craig was a Bradford born postman and later insurance salesman who wrote verses about cricketers.He moved to London in 1886 and became something of a fixture at The Oval. The press often referred to Craig as The Surrey Poet, though he signed his works AC, Cricket Rhymester. Craig also developed an interest in Association football. He wrote verses about Woolwich Arsenal (then based in Plumstead) and later Chelsea, Crystal Palace and Queen's Park Rangers. As you can see, the lines above were inspired by a Palace vs Queen's Park Rangers match in The Southern League. Palace won 3-0.

Josh Johnson (Palace)

Sam Downing (QPR)

The protagonists in the penalty incident were Josh Johnson and Sam Downing.Downing had started his senior career with QPR in 1903 with a hat trick on debut. However, in 170 games for the Hoops he only managed 13 goals (in fairness he was a wing half). Downing joined Chelsea in 1909.Johnson (sometimes referred to as 'Joe' Johnson) began his career with Aston Villa, but never made the first team. He then had a spell at Plymouth Argyle before joining Palace in 1907. He made 276 Southern League appearances for Palace. After the war he joined Nottingham Forest. Johnson was a devout Christian and a lay preacher. The London Daily News the following day described the game as an indifferent one, watched by the Danish Olympic Football team. Palace were 2 up in 10 minutes but according to the report Rangers had most of the play but squandered their chances. The penalty is described as follows: Downing shot straight at Johnson, who easily turned the ball over the bar.

Most of the changes in the Laws of The Game in the 1860s and 70s concerned what happened when the ball went out of play.Here we will look at Law 7:1863In case the ball goes behind the goal line, if a player on the side to whom the goal belongs first touches the ball, one of his side shall be entitled to a free kick from the goal line at the point opposite the place where the ball shall be touched. If a player of the opposite side first touches the ball, one of his side shall be entitled to a free kick (but at the goal only) from a point 15 yards from the goal line opposite the place where the ball is touched. The opposing side shall stand behind their goal line until he has had his kick. Notice that the ball 'going behind the goal line' wasn't out of play as such: there was still the matter of getting the touch on it. For the attacking team getting the touch down meant a shot at goal from 15 yards (Some similarities to Rugby here - in early Rugby rules the 'touchdown' or 'try' counted for nothing, but depended on the 'conversion' to a 'goal') . I can only assume that the 11 defenders would line up between the goalposts and just behind the goal line. As the attacking players all had to be behind the ball when it was kicked and that the ball had to be shot directly at goal I imagine that very few goals would have resulted from this process,1866Following the February 1866 AGMthe FA adopted the Sheffield principle of using secondary scoring to decide matches finishing equal on actual goals:...if a player of the opposite side first touches the ball after it has gone behind the goal line of his adversary, one 'touch down' shall be scored by his side, and in the event of no goal being got by either side, or an equal number of goals being got on each side, the side obtaining the greater number of 'touches down' shall be the winners of the match. It was a relatively short lived experiment, the touch down disappearing from the rules altogether following the 1867 AGM, being replaced by a free kick for the defending team to be taken within 6 yards of their goal. Sheffield, 1868The corner kick first made an appearance in the revised Sheffield rules of 1868. Having dispensed with rouges (touch downs) Sheffield introduced the following:When the ball is kicked over the bar of the goal it must be kicked off by the side behind whose goal it went, within 6 yards from the limit of their goal...when the ball is kicked behind the goal line a player of the opposite side to that which kicked it out shall kick it in from the nearest corner flag...The 1870 FA rules had when the ball is kicked behind the goal line, it must be kicked off by the side behind whose goal it went, within 6 yards from the limit of their goal. and in 1872 the FA adopted the 1868 Sheffield rule verbatim.It was in 1873 that the FA rules gave us the clear distinction between a goal kick and a corner kick (though neither term was used):When the ball is kicked behind the goal line by one of the opposite side it shall be kicked off by any one of the players behind whose goal line it went, within 6 yards of the nearest goal post; but if kicked behind by any one of the side whose goal line it is , a player of the opposite side shall kick it from the nearest corner flag post. As the corner kick fell under the category 'free kicks' it was not permissible to score a goal directly from a corner kick.

It seems that the transition from club to international football is not always easy! Between 1919 and 1932 Josep Samitier scored 333 goals in 454 games for Barcelona (strike rate 0.73 goals per game). In his 21 internationals (1920-1931) he netted just twice. In the 21 matches he played Spain scored 38 goals and lost only 3 times. Samitier played at right half in the Spain team. He also played for Catalunya.

Football can play a significant role in the development of a sense of national identity. In 1907 the president of Brazil, Snr Afonso Pena, donated a trophy to be awarded to ' National Champions'.

The first Rio de Janeiro championship had been decided in 1906 (Fluminense) whilst the São Paulo championship had been in place since 1901 (Germania were the 1906 champions).The governing bodies of football in the 2 principal cities (Liga Paulista de Foot-Ball (founded 1901) and Liga Metropolitana de Sports Athleticos (founded 1905)) decided against a championship playoff between the 2 champion clubs, and instead opted for a match between 2 league representative teams.This overlooked the fact that a Bahia state championship had been played since 1905 (Clube de Natação e Regatas São Salvador were the reigning champions).The 2 representative sides met first on 25.08.07 at São Paulo's Campo do Velódromo. The line ups were:

Liga Paulista de Foot-Ball

Tutu

Paulistano

Tommy

Paulistano

Walter Jeffery

Paulistano

Thiele

Germânia

Argemiro

Internacional

Gerhardt

Germânia

Einfurher

Internacional

Leônidas Bellegardes

Internacional

Aquino

Americano

Oscar de Andrade

Americano

Colston

Internacional

Distrito Federal

Waterman

Fluminense

Riether

Fluminense

Pullen

Paysandu

Mutzembecker

Internacional

A. Werneck

Paysandu

Wood

Fluminense

Oswaldo Gomes

Fluminense

Wilding

Internacional

Oscar Cox

Fluminense

E. Etchegaray

Fluminense

Waymar

Paysandu

São Paulo took a firm hold by winning the home tie by 4-1. The São Paulo goalscorers were Leônidas Bellegardes, Oscar de Andrade, Aquino and Colston. Oswaldo Gomes scored for the visitors. The return fixture was played 7 weeks later on 12.10.07 atPaysandu's ground.

16 year old Silvio Piola pictured in the colours of Pro Vercelli in 1929.In a career that lasted until 1954 Piola would go on to be the most prolific scorer in the history of Italian top flight football, with 333 goals in 619 games.Piola joined Lazio in 1934 having scored 51 goals in 127 league matches for Pro Vercelli.

Enoch West signed for Sheffield United as a 17 year old, but he failed to break into the first team and returned to minor football.2 years later, in 1905, he joined Nottingham Forest. He scored 100 goals in 184 appearances for Forest.In 1910 he joined Manchester United.West was one of the players suspended indefinately by the Football Association following the revelation that the Good Friday match between Manchester United and Liverpool had been fixed.The sorry tale is covered in depth in Graham Sharpe's Free the Manchester United One: The Inside Story of Football's Greatest Scam.

Betting on the correct score was unusual in those days. Mr Giles , a bookie in Hucknall, gave evidence that an exceptionally large number of bets were placed on a 2-0 scoreline, so much so that he stopped taking them. He still lost over £150.The fixing took place in the context of concerns that players would face hardship when football was suspended (the War had begun in 1914 and the Football League had been criicised for proceeding with the 1914-15 season).

The ban extended to preventing the men from entering any football ground in the future...West protested and sued the FA and the Hulton publishing group for libel. The case was heard in July 1917 and West was unsuccesful. Sandy Turnbull was killed while serving in the war, but all the other players, except West, had their bans lifted by the FA in 1919 in recognition of their service to the country; Turnbull received a posthumous reinstatement.I can only assume that West was omitted from the amnesty for having the temerity to challenge the authority of the FA.. With an element arch black humour West's ban was lifted in 1945 when he was 59 years old.

The players suspended were:

Tom Fairfoul (wing half, 34yrs) Liverpool

Reinstated but did not return to football.

Tom Miller (forward, 24 yrs) Liverpool

When the ban was announced Miller had already joined the army. Following suspension Miller returned to his native Scotland. When his ban was lifted he rejoined Liverpool. In 1920 he signed for Manchester United! After finishing his career in Scotland he had a very brief spell as manager of Barrow.

Bob Pursell (full back, 26 yrs) Liverpool

Rejoined Liverpool in 1919 and moved to Port Vale in 1920.

Jackie Sheldon (winger, 27 yrs) Liverpool

Sheldon joined Liverpool from Manchester United in 1913. At the time the ban was announced he was on active service on the western front. After the war (and the lifting of the ban) he played 2 further seasons for Liverpool.

Sandy Turnbull (forward, 30 yrs) Manchester United

Turnbull didn’t play in the Good Friday match. Turnbull was killed in action in Arras (1917). His life ban was posthumously rescinded by the Football Association in 1919 (!).

Enoch West (forward, 28 yrs) Manchester United

Life ban lifted in 1945 (!)

Arthur Whalley (half back, 29 yrs) Manchester United

Returned to United for the 1919-20 season.

Lol Cook (centre forward, 30yrs) Chester

Cook’s career was over by the time of the enquiry.

Fred Howard (centre forward, 24 yrs) Manchester City

At the end of his 1-year suspension (imposed for the unsatisfactory way in which he gave evidence) Howard returned to City. He later played for Gillingham, Wrexham, New Brighton and Port Vale.